. >> reporter: stephen prothero is a professor of religion at boston university. >> we have a lot of people who love jesus but don't know much about him. we have a lot of people who believe and hope that the bible is the word of god but they don't really bother to read it. >> reporter: and it shows. on average, americans correctly answered 16 of 32 religious knowledge survey questions. >> the three groups that come out on top in this survey are atheists and agnostics, jews along with mormons. >> reporter: at the bottom? >> mainline protestants, catholics and those who describe their religion as just nothing in particular. >> reporter: here's some of the results from the survey. when asked the dalai lama's religion... >> hindu? >> i'm going to say hindu. >> sort sort of middle eastern religion. >> reporter: fewer than half of americans correctly answered that he is... >> buddhist. >> reporter: name of the first book of the bible. >> i don't know. >> reporter: more than a third of americans don't know genesis is the first book of the bible. here's another. what day does the jewish sabb